Some Inside Tips for Healthy Eating in the Office

Do you find it hard to beat the 3 pm slump? Are your eyes heavy on the bus or drive home? Counting on coffee to give you the perk up you need every morning? The work day can be long and energy consuming so one or all these just equates to you being human. However, there are some eating habits you can easily implement to give you more sustainable energy throughout the day.Yes, there are thousands of healthy eating blogs out there but from years of trial and error dieting and a massive sweet tooth with the fillings to prove it, here are some tips to beat the sugar cravings and caffeine dependency during your work week. It’s not too late to start over this year towards a healthier body and mind.  Drizzle – When the heating in the office has been up too high and you’ve just dealt with a stressful customer, sometimes all you want is a cuppa and your favourite bar of chocolate. You’ve had a hard morning, it’s Monday… you deserve it? All these thoughts and self-pitying which we all do can lead to bad habits. If nothing but chocolate will do, don’t deny yourself but try an alternative that will be a lot healthier. Lately, I’ve discovered an amazing treat that gives me the choc hit but also a healthy dose of vitamin C and calcium. Try a bowl of orange segments covered in low-fat yoghurt with a drizzle of dark chocolate on top. In comparison to a bar of chocolate, this will provide you healthy sugars, less fat and will keep you feeling fuller for longer. In addition, you’re getting one of your 5 a day too!Hydrate – Sometimes it can be hard to reach the bottom of the well of water we’re all supposed to drink every day. No doubt it can get a little boring and can leave you feeling unfulfilled and a bit fed up. So, try some alternatives that can make drinking water a little more enticing. Try adding fruit. Lemon is a popular choice but any flavour you like can be added to give water a bit of a kick or sweetness. Try watermelon, strawberries, orange pieces. Don’t be afraid to experiment until you find one you love. If you’re feeling daring, try some ginger, basil, mint or oregano leaves. There is no end to the benefits of drinking plenty of water; it promotes healthy weight management and weight loss, flushes out toxins which result in a better complexion and a boost to the immune system, prevents headaches, improves digestion and prevents cramps and sprains to name a few. Focus – Sometimes what leads to the cravings is just pure boredom. Comfort eating is a big calorie contributor as a lot of us well know. So what’s making you bored? What percentage of your day are you engaged in your work and happy to be doing it? If it’s a very small percentage, you might want to reconsider your job and ask yourself if it really suits you and what drives you. We spend a long time at work, so it should be something you enjoy. It’s not impossible. Having worked in over 15 different jobs and about 8 different industries, I can safely say that you’re never stuck anywhere. There are ample affordable opportunities to retrain and upskill also so don’t settle for a role or environment that leaves you feeling bored and unfulfilled. Visit our website, celticcareers.ie to check out jobs and opportunities. Free fruit! Companies can be better for providing sweet treats than nutritional ones. Celtic Careers is one of the few companies I have worked in where a gorgeous basket of fresh fruit is provided for staff every Monday morning. This has helped me lose a few pounds as it has drastically reduced my sugar cravings. If your management are open to suggestions for the office, I would highly recommend this. If it’s not something that is possible, I would recommend bringing in a few pieces of fresh fruit yourself because sometimes the sight of a full colourful basket is more appealing than a single lonely bruised apple. At Celtic Careers, we are running a 5 a day healthy eating promotion this week. Join us at Citywest Shopping Centre tomorrow from 12.30pm until 2.00pm where we will be dishing out some lunch bags with all of your 5 a day inside. Zero rubbish policy – Pringles weren’t lying when they said, ‘Once you pop, you can’t stop’ and I find that this truth can be applied to many sugary snacks. They are designed to be highly addictive, it’s not just you. Sweet foods are highly desirable because of the powerful impact sugar has on the reward system in your brain called the mesolimbic dopamine system. The neurotransmitter dopamine is released by neurons in this system in response to a rewarding event. The same brain area is activated during use of many drugs “Drugs such as cocaine, amphetamines and nicotine hijack this brain system. Activation of this system leads to intense feelings of reward that can result in cravings and addiction. So drugs and sugar both activate the same reward system in the brain, causing the release of dopamine. Repeated activation of the dopamine reward system, for example by eating lots of sugary foods, causes the brain to adapt to the frequent reward system stimulation. When we enjoy lots of these foods on a regular basis, the system starts to change to prevent it becoming overstimulated. In particular, dopamine receptors start to down-regulate.” For that reason, it is better to go cold turkey and get used to not having refined sugar, at least during work. So while we’ll probably never beat our coffee and choc additions completely, it might be worth trying one of our handy tips today and see the benefits throughout your work week.Quoted above is a snippet from the article Fact or Fiction – is sugar addictive? From theconversion.com. Check out the full article here http://theconversation.com/fact-or-fiction-is-sugar-addictive-73340If you are living around the Citywest Area, drop into Citywest Shopping Centre for your free 5 a day goodie bag compliments of Celtic Careers.  prepping our goodie bags for our healthy eating promo this week